Mickadeit: Blessed by saint of lost causes

As a parent, imagine what it would be like if one day you were faced with the realization that your pre-schooler had suddenly stopped growing. Her sister, a year-and-a-half younger, passes her in size.

That's what confronted Dolf and Laila Renaud of Anaheim. By age 4, it was clear that their middle daughter, Brooke, had simply ceased to grow. At 7½, she's still small for her age, and on Saturday night, I mistook her for a very precocious kindergartener as she flounced around in her red party dress, ogling baubles on the silent-auction table, expertly manipulating her mom's iPhone and enchanting every stranger in sight.

We were at the St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital gala at the Monarch Beach Resort. Brooke and her mom had come to tell their story to the attendees, who contributed $210,000 – double what the event raised last year. I was there because on the event committee was Denise Mainero and she also had an interesting story to tell.

St. Jude's was founded by entertainer Danny Thomas in 1962 as a shrine to the patron saint of lost causes. Thomas put the hospital in Memphis, but it was to be national in scope. When he opened the L.A. branch of the St. Jude fundraising arm, he rented an office from Denise's father. Both were Lebanese-Americans. A bond was formed.

Denise, who now lives in Newport Beach, says her parents hosted the first West Coast cocktail party for St. Jude's, and then hosted it for years. She co-founded the chapter here. In fact, the whole West Coast operation of St. Jude's is run out of an office in Garden Grove. The hospital turns no kid away; it costs $1.8 million a day to operate. Thus, fundraisers like these.

The Renauds took Brooke to O.C. doctors. They found an inoperable tumor sitting on her optic nerve. Brooke named it "Earl." He thwarted her growth and threatened her vision. If it got larger, it could kill her. Were it their daughter, they told the Renauds, they would take her to St. Jude's.

Brooke's first visit was in 2010. Every three months she returns for several days. The plane flight, the treatments, the stay-over accommodations – "I've never seen a bill," Laila says. Brooke has radiation treatments, takes four pills a day, and because of a weak immune system, must be careful about germs. She recently got sick by petting a cat.

But recent tests show that Earl has calcified and is not growing. Except for her size, Brooke is outwardly normal. Her vision is fine. She plays soccer and is in ballet. After bragging, "I scored three goals in one season!" she got up from table and showed dinner guests that she can do the splits.

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